The Dodgers have placed right-hander Gus Varland on the 15-day injured list due to inflammation in his right knee. Taking Varland’s place is another righty, as Los Angeles has selected Wander Suero’s contract from Triple-A.
Suero inked a minor league deal with L.A. during the offseason, and this is the second time the Dodgers have selected him to the active roster. His first stint saw him post an 8.10 ERA over four appearances and 6 2/3 innings, and Suero was then designated for assignment and outrighted back to Triple-A. Because Suero entered the season with more than three years of MLB service time, he could’ve rejected that outright assignment and returned to free agency, but he instead opted to remain in the Dodgers organization.
Given all of the Dodgers’ pitching injuries, Suero might be able to carve out a bullpen role if he pitches well, though his selection might just represent a short-term way to get a fresh arm onto the roster. It’s at least another look in the Show for Suero, who spent 2022 in the Angels’ farm system and in the Mexican League without seeing any big league action. Prior to 2022, Suero tossed 185 1/3 relief innings for the Nationals from 2018-21, including 71 1/3 frames during Washington’s 2019 championship season.
Varland just pitched yesterday, and picked up the loss in the Dodgers’ 7-6 loss to the Nationals in 11 innings. 2023 is Varland’s first Major League season, as he has posted a 6.64 ERA over 20 1/3 combined innings with the Brewers and Dodgers. Selected by Milwaukee from L.A. back in December during the Rule 5 Draft, the Brewers returned Varland to the Dodgers in May, and the righty has pitched a bit better in the Dodger Blue. Varland has a 3.09 ERA in 11 2/3 frames with the Dodgers as opposed to an outsized 11.42 ERA in 8 2/3 innings with the Brewers, though given the small sample sizes and some similarly uninspiring peripherals on both teams, Varland’s improvement with the Dodgers might be more due to good fortune.
I always liked Wander Suero when he was a Nat. Very competitive guy. Just couldn’t ever quite put it all together.
“Varland has a 3.09 ERA in 11 2/3 frames with the Dodgers as opposed to an outsized 11.42 ERA in 8 2/3 innings with the Brewers, though given the small sample sizes and some similarly uninspiring peripherals on both teams, Varland’s improvement with the Dodgers might be more due to good fortune.”
Let’s see. Best place to start looking at a pitcher (especially over small samples) is BB and K rates. Let’s do that.
Brewers: 16% BB, 12% K
Dodgers 15% BB, 27%K
Seems like an improvement. Let’s look further
Brewers 6% swining K rate
Dodgers 15% swinging K rate
Looks like an improvement. Those numbers also don’t look similarly uninspiring. One looks horribly terrible. The other looks not good.
My new favorite Wander in MLB.